6.5 Creedmoor kicks!

[Newtosavage]

Whoever said managing expectations nailed it, I think.

For me, if I'm expecting big recoil, I pull the butt into my shoulder hard. When I'm instructing a new shooter, I tell them to pull the stock into their shoulder hard. Nothing will send a new shooter packin faster than sharp shoulder pain when the gun goes off. We will learn less pull / more accurate later.

I think you guys probably do the same, and maybe this is why "it kicks above it's weight". Just a guess.

This is probably the case - that I was expecting less.

 

[taliv]

i think this discussion is missing a lot of context.

this is very similar to the casual shooter that thinks putting a brake on the 223 is stupid because it isn't painful because it has "no recoil", while the competition shooter will do anything that lets him keep his target split times while holding the A zone.

in this case, most of the people making noise about the 6.5s having less recoil are trying to achieve a very specific objective, which is to maintain their view of the target through the scope so they can catch their trace.

the important thing to understand, that i feel is missing from this conversation is that none of these competition shooters are dealing with 20 lbs of recoil because they're shooting at least 15 lb rifles. nobody is using a 7 lb gun. many are 17 lbs. i literally added 4 lbs of lead to the butt of my stock in order to bring the weight up to 21 lbs.

i think it's going to be quite challenging to see your trace with a 7 lb gun in either cartridge. (I'll bet a good bit of money you won't)

but with a >15lb bangstick, that will likely make the difference. YMMV, but i CAN see it with a 6.5 and can't with a 308. That said, next year I'm moving down to a 6mm so i can see it even more reliably, while shooting barricades and such.

 

[jmorris]

i think this discussion is missing a lot of context.

this is very similar to the casual shooter that thinks putting a brake on the 223 is stupid because it isn't painful because it has "no recoil", while the competition shooter will do anything that lets him keep his target split times while holding the A zone.

I have to admit, I am not a big fan of brakes because my hearing already is awful but I have them on a number of firearms from 50 BMG to .22 LR, as you say, for different reasons.

 

[Skylerbone]

i think this discussion is missing a lot of context.

A bit on mine; as a hunter utility is very often the only reason for a caliber choice. That carries over to the rifle itself more often than not as lugging around anything more than 8 1/2 lbs is impractical.

Recoil management is a concept I openly embrace. Don't own a suppressor, only my AR wears a brake. By the numbers 6.5 offered me enough gun for an antelope hunt with my daughter behind the trigger a few years down the road with less recoil than .308.

At $180 the decision to buy was easy, with 6.5 offering the least amount of recoil of those I had to select from that day. So the die was cast, not based on recent popularity but practicality. I think dismissing something to go against the grain is self-impairing. Back to recoil, I was prepared for far more even off the rest, but was pleasantly surprised by how mild it was. To me, comparable to an H&R .410 single-shot.

 

[cdb1]

I agree about 30-30 recoil and stock shape. I thought mine kicked a lot more than it should when I bought it. A couple of years later I put a riser on it to get a better cheek weld with the scope and the felt recoil was noticeably less.

Don’t have a 6.5 Creedmoor but my 6.5x55 feels softer shooting than my .270, both with 130 grain bullets.

 

[tark]

People need to practice with a 12Ga Shotgun slug, with 700Gr slugs

In six pound H&R single shot with a hard rubber butt plate!!

 

[LoonWulf]

^ masochist